More in Windows 8

Just weeks after announcing that it would be overhauling MSN on the web and rebranding its Windows and Windows Phone Bing apps as MSN apps, Microsoft is going live with the changes. So the new version of the MSN web portal has dropped the preview label and those with Windows 8.1/RT and Windows Phone 8.1 have some apps to update....More

Thanks to Microsoft's liberal new Windows licensing policies, hardware makers will be unleashing a new generation of inexpensive new PCs and tablets this holiday season. But you don't have to wait for the snow to fall to get a great deal on an inexpensive Windows-based PC: Many fine options are available now. And based on my weeks-long testing of a low-end Acer model, these devices generally provide a better value than a comparably-priced Chromebook....More

Microsoft issued updates for both Xbox Music and Xbox Video for Windows 8.1 today. Neither are updated as much as their Windows Phone counterparts—mostly because they're already of higher quality—and these updates are, as expected, fairly minor....More

Thanks to its PC innards, Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 is starting to replace both paper-based documentation and iPads in plane cockpits. And this week, that process is now formalized, with Surface Pro 3 achieving device qualifications as FAA and EASA Electronic Flight Bags (EFB)....More

Every month, I highlight AdDuplex's Windows Phone usage statistics, but this month they're taking a peek at Windows device—Windows 8.x-based tablets, 2-in-1s and other devices—usage. The firm provides this kind of survey about twice a year, and it's interesting to see which devices—and device types—are actually taking off with users....More

OK, I've had my fun with the dichotomy of Microsoft announced two separate Miracast adapters in the last 30 days. Truth be told, the newly announced Wireless Display Adapter does address some slightly different scenarios than the previously-announced Microsoft Screen-Sharing for Lumia Phones HD-10. And I'll be reviewing and comparing both....More

The Toshiba Encore Mini has arrived and as you may expect, I really wanted to like this cheap new mini-tablet. But here's the reality check: You can't price a tablet at $120 without cutting some corners. And in this case, the result is horribly lacking, and something I simply cannot recommend to anyone....More

OneDrive just keeps getting better. And just a week after Microsoft upped the file size limit in its cloud storage service to 10 GB, it's making another major and positive change: It's upping the amount of free storage from 15 GB to 30 GB, and all you need to do is backup your phone's photos to OneDrive to get it. The bad news? This is a temporary bump, so you need to act fast....More

The question "how low can they go?" is no longer theoretical. As it turns out, they can go very low indeed. PC makers have raced to respond to Microsoft's "zero dollar" Windows licensing, and the result is a new generation of ultra-cheap Windows PCs and devices. The latest example: Toshiba's $120 mini-tablet, the Encore Mini....More

I was going to move on to a discussion of virtualizing Windows on the Mac, but before I get to that I think it may be worth a short discussion around some of the Windows-related issues you'll need to deal with regardless of which method you choose. Indeed, this conversation about running Windows on the Mac is going to be a bit more involved than I originally thought....More

When my new Apple MacBook Air arrived earlier this month, I could feel the waves of jealousy coming off the Surface Pro 3. But it shouldn't have worried. While your needs may vary, the Surface Pro 3 instantly catapults Microsoft's hardware into the same league as Apple's well-respected MacBook Air. And that's quite an accomplishment....More

Microsoft made an interesting claim today, though it didn't back it up with any hard figures: Demand for Surface Pro 3 has surpassed the supply, leading to shortages in some markets. So Microsoft is asking for your patience while it gets more into the marketplace....More

While I've been a lot more focused on Xbox Music for what I assume are obvious reasons, Microsoft has also been updating its Xbox Video apps a lot lately as well. And this week, the firm issued updates for the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 versions of the app. Nothing major, but some steady progress....More

Yikes. Microsoft announced today that its consumer-oriented OneDrive cloud storage service supports individual files of up to 10 GB each, a dramatic improvement over the previous 2 GB limit. The move comes shortly after the firm increased the storage available in the free version of the service from 7 GB to 15 GB, and it's accompanied by a number of other improvements as well....More

The HP Stream laptop catapulted to instant fame when Microsoft COO Kevin Turner held it aloft during his Worldwide Partner Conference 2014 presentation in July and declared that it would start at just $200. There's just one problem. The HP Stream is now being promoted on HP's web site. And the price starts at $300, not $200....More

The news that Microsoft would be rename its Bing content apps with the MSN brand was met immediately with the resistance I expected from the Windows community. But if you step back and think about it for a moment, this rebranding—and the resultant relaunch of MSN as a web-based portal for all of the information that backs these wonderful apps—actually makes sense. MSN, after all, is Microsoft's online content brand, and Bing is about search. Put another way, MSN is Microsoft's Yahoo, and Bing is Microsoft's Google....More

Microsoft is expected to announce Windows 9 (codenamed Threshold) at the end of the September, putting an end to the most damaging setback in the history of its most lucrative product line. As things stand now, Windows 8 usage trails even that of Windows Vista during the same timeframe after its launch. And Vista was previously regarded as the firm's biggest flop....More

Microsoft's vaunted Bing content apps—News, Sports, News, Sports, Money (formerly Finance), Travel, Food & Drink and Health & Fitness—are being relaunched under the MSN brand and are being ported to the web. And later this year, the apps, which are currently available as part of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, will be ported to Android and iOS as well....More

Several years ago, I spent a ton of time and effort trying to use Windows on various Macs. It was never really optimal, though things did improve when Apple switched Mac to the Intel processor platform. Today, we have some great options for running Windows—and Windows applications—on a Mac. So I'm going to begin an overdue look at those options, and see which makes the most sense....More

Microsoft went with its own branding for the curiously named Screen Sharing For Lumia Phones HD-10, but the device looks and works like your typical Miracast dongle: It lets you beam content from a smartphone to an HDMI-connected HDTV so you can watch movies, photo slide shows, and other content on the big screen....More

Toshiba has emerged as one of the big stories from IFA 2014, thanks to its budget-busting $120 Windows mini-tablet, the Encore mini. But Toshiba also made some other interesting announcements at the show, including some interesting 2-in-1 PCs. Here's what Toshiba announced this week at IFA....More

While much of the excitement at IFA this year concerns low-end PCs and tablets, the world's biggest PC maker is focusing instead on more lucrative markets. Here are the Windows PCs that Lenovo announced this week at the Berlin, Germany-based conference....More

With Chromebooks eating away at low-end PCs and cheap Android tablets gobbling up that market, Microsoft went with the nuclear option earlier this year and made Windows available for free—excuse me, for "zero dollars"—to device makers. And now they're responding in kind, by announcing wave after wave of cheap Windows devices that will ship to consumers this holiday season....More

So how does the $200 PC stack up? I'll know more soon, but for now I can say that the Acer Aspire E 15 isn't completely horrible. And for even its normal street price, this PC and others like it make a strong case for sticking with Windows and foregoing a simpler but less capable Chromebook....More

What I Use

Like many, I was hoping to see a new Lumia flagship before the end of 2014, and while I was pleasantly surprised in some ways by both the Lumia 735 and 830, neither offers the level of performance or best-in-market camera quality I had come to expected from Microsoft/Nokia's high-end devices. So I pulled the trigger on an unlocked Windows Phone flagship that will hopefully take me through at least the first half of this year. Or until Microsoft gets off its low-end fixation and satisfies the needs of its biggest fans....More

It's been a while since the last What I Use, but there haven't been many major changes since late last year: Surface Pro 3 has become my go-to travel companion, I've added a third cellphone line for testing Windows Phone, Android and iPhone side-by-side, and have rotated through some new tablets and other devices. We've also switched from FIOS to Comcast and added to our set-top box collection....More